About Laziness

Being lazy can be productive. It sounds weird, but it is true. What I mean is this: there will always be times at which you might have it hard to write. You just can’t think of something, you’re stuck in the story, you lack the idea you need to finish everything off neatly with a bow and everything. Those are times to be a little lazy. Or you just finished a story and are about to start another one. Give yourself a few days off, be lazy.

Being lazy means not actively working on a story, not writing another line, another sentence, another chapter. It doesn’t necessarily mean not doing anything at all. Humans actually have it hard enough to really do nothing at all. Our brains work whether we want it or not.

While you’re being lazy, you’re free to do everything which is not connected to writing your story. Write something else, perhaps a little experiment. Read. Go for a walk. Talk with your friends or family. Watch a movie or binge-watch a series. Gather new impressions, fill up your internal reserves. It’s not just ‘doing nothing’ at all.

Sometimes, as I did recently, you need to work hard. You need to push yourself. I did it to dampen the pain of losing a good friend who had always supported my writing. I pushed myself into finishing several more chapters of “One for Sorrow” in a short time. I’m nearing the end now, which is good, because writing this story was difficult for me. Somehow, I’m still not completely inside the head of Tom and Inez Crowe, the main characters. I hope to be in it soon, though. You might have to push yourself to meet a deadline or something like that. Or because you need to do things in real life and won’t have time to write for a while.

Today, I took a day off, I was lazy. I didn’t write, didn’t even check the chapter I wrote yesterday. I took the day for myself, read a little, and played a new computer game I’d bought. Now I feel much better and hope to finish the story by the end of the weekend. I have three more chapters to go, so if I do one every day, I can take a few days off next week and start editing “Death Dealer” at the beginning of November. With my schedule, I have no time for NaNoWriMo, because November is an editing month for me. But even if I had the time, I’d probably not do it, either. Don’t misunderstand me - I could probably make it, I can write a chapter a day, that would be roundabout 90,000 words in 30 days, if I took no break, or 60,000 words in a month, if I took a day off here and there. But I have to edit and I don’t just write one month a year. I write every month - unless I’m editing. I sometimes even get some writing in during the months during which I edit. I don’t need to challenge myself with churning out a novel (well, its first draft) in a month. I did two in one and a half months once, I know I can do it, if I’m properly inspired and know what to go for.

If you don’t take time off for yourself, though, if you don’t play around, enjoy some books, enjoy life, you’ll run yourself dry. You will find that a day off can actually pay off very well. Inspiration doesn’t come out of nowhere. Whatever you see, hear, read, experience will give you new ideas. It will wake the muse from her sleep and she’ll cooperate more readily. Just never wait for her to turn up. After a few days of rest, go back to writing, even if you have to force yourself at first. It gets easier after the first few lines - at least for me.

Yes, I’m lazy sometimes and it’s good. Being lazy is important and you shouldn’t not be lazy for too long. Give your mind and soul the time to recharge and you’ll find writing much easier afterwards.